These past weeks I've been working a lot which is why I haven't had the time or the energy to write anything. But today your waiting is over. Elin is back. And since I have a couple of weeks of home studying ahead I will probably have a lot more energy and time. I've previously just mentioned the change I've made in which products I use that are nature friendly. So today I thought I'd tell you about an alternative way to use hairproducts. I still haven't found an organic solution to everything, such as a good hairspray. Fortunately I don't use hairspray so often. I think everyone wants their hair to look good and full of life. So do I, and at the same time I want to use as little as possible of the silicones and jungle of names and abbreviations of that often fill our shampoo bottles. If you want to try out some more nature friendly shampoo for example, don't start by memorizing what not to use. It's easier if you go to an organic shop and chose between what they have on their shelves. It's probably more nature friendly than the ones you find in an ordinary store. That's what I did, and I've had to try a lot of different brands and types of shampoo. They're all different and work better for some and not so good for others. And as always when you change into a non-conventional option it takes some getting used to, your body needs to adjust. I'm currently using the chocolate shampoo from faith in nature. It has been good for me and my hair, and the shower smells like a chocolate cake (which isn't so bad for me, the chocolate lover). I don't use any conditioner, since I don't need it. My hair is so slippery so a condotioner would make it even more difficult to style.
Instead I use hair oil to give my hair some extra nourishment and to keep the ends from becoming too dry. The hair oil from Weleda is really good, but I'm also sometimes adding a bit of coconut oil to the ends after a shower. Coconut oil is also really good as a hair mask. Add coconut oil to the hair two hours before a shower, shower as usual (an extra wash with shampoo might be necessary) and your hair will be like new. And as I've said before I try to avoid heat treatments as much as possible since it damages the hair so much. This is how I do it. Hope you got a bit more interested, and I hope to hear what you've tried and how it worked. /E
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This weekend I was with some friends out at a summer cottage in the Finnish archipelago. We were just chilling, fishing and enjoying the nature around us. Here are a lot of pictures from our trip. I will let them tell the story this time. Enjoy! It has been a wonderful weekend, with good food, nice company and a lot of nature. And that's something you can't get enough of.
Big thanks to Tomas, Jonas and Jonathan for these three days! :) /A This morning when I woke up, I felt that I needed to get out, needed some space around me. My wife had already went to work earlier so it was just me and the cats, that I actually could hear outside the front door wanted to come in. I jumped, or actually I draged my self out of the warm bed and went down the stairs to let the cats in. When I opened the door and the fresh autumn air hit me as the cats ran inside, I decided that this sunday morning I would eat my breakfast out in the nature. So I packed my bag, and drove to a nice place that I new about. Pretty soon I had a small fire going. And then I just sat there and looked into the fire, enjoyed my coffee and the nature around me. So peaceful and quiet.
So that was my morning, how was yours? /A When the autumn rain hits the windows like today there isn't so much you can do but to put on a fire. It's the first one for this autumn and oh, so much I've missed it. To cosy up next to the warming fire with a good book and a hot cup of tea. It's one of the reasons I love this season. And as much as I love autumn I love food, maybe even a bit more. It can get to the point where I spend an entire day thinking about what to prepare the next day. My instagram-feed is filled with differnt food accounts, with other words bursting with inspiration. Today I decided to make something really good to bring for lunch when I'm going to work this weekend. Often it turns out to be the best recipe when you just use what you have at home. This time I found some tomatoes, zucchini, chickpeas and some olives. Fried them up with onion, added water and just let it boil for a couple of minutes while I added some spices. Ate it with quinoa. So simple, good and healthy! Now I will continue this friday evening in the warmth of the fire, with that book.
/E At my work, we listen to the radio a lot. For the most I let everything just pass through my ears and then forget about it, but lately that has changed... So here are some thoughts that have been growing inside of me the past months. It seems that nowadays the politicians, the business men and the leaders of the world only cares about their own life and how much money and power they will earn before their time has come to an end. Are there anyone out there, in a leading position, that actually care about where the world is going? Where it will be in 300 years or more... Hopefully there will be many generations after us, but then maybe they who rule the world should change the way they think. Yes, we normal people should also start to care more, and change our lifestyle and the way we live. But I think that the men and women who we have chosen to lead us, maybe could, as good examples, start living a life that goes further and wider than their own greed, visibility and lust for power. I know of one significant man who have changed the way he lives, his name is José Mujica and he is a president. He's the president of Uruguay, the media call him the poorest president in the world. Why? That's because he gives away 90% of his salary to charities that benefit poor people and small entrepreneurs. He does not live in a luxury palace like other in his position, instead he and his wife are living in a small farm in the outskirts of Montevideo. "I'm called 'the poorest president', but I don't feel poor. Poor people are those who only work to try to keep an expensive lifestyle, and always want more and more," he says. Here is a short interview with the man himself. We people have to realize that if we continue to live the way we live, our world won't last for long. It's not sustainably for example to every year or so buy the newest smart phone even though the "old" one still works.
Sadly I can't change what todays leaders prioritizes, how they think and what they care about. But I can do a difference with my own life. You maybe can't save the whole world alone, but if you start with yourself then maybe along the road you influence people around you so that they also start to change. We live in a beautiful world, it would be a shame to let it be destroyed by our own hands, that would be like sawing off the branch you are sitting on. So please dear fellow human beings, start using some common sense and we might save the world together! /A Finally it is time for me to write something, I have had trouble to figure out what to write about. But now I've got a story from this weekends adventure. Enjoy! The day was here, me and two of my friends had planned to take the weekend off and go for an expedition to an island a few kilometers offshore. Straight after work on friday, we packed our stuff in the car and drove about hundred kilometers to the place where we would start our small expedition. The weather was okay, a bit overcast with the sun shining trough the clouds. We were a bit late, so we wouldn't have many hours of light left, but we were optimistic and went out anyway. Picture taken by @benjaminstreng My paddling skills aren't maybe the best, because I have been out in a kayak only three times before. But the only way to get better is to get out there, into the wild and cold waters. At first the sea was calm and easy to paddle through, but that's because we were in a bay that was protected with reefs as a natural breakwater. After the first hundred meters of unsteady paddling, I was finally getting used to my kayak and it started to feel good. Pictures taken by @benjaminstreng When we got closer to the reefs we started to hear the sound of waves breaking over the rocks. But we didn't let that scare us and continued to paddle. Quite soon we did pass the protecting reefs and started to feel the waves. We hadn't come far before we got pushed into a bunch of rocks and stones, stuck there we realized that we had to carry our kayaks over the reef "island" to continue our trip. After a bit of struggling we got all three kayaks over and continued our expedition. The waves started to get annoying, they came obliquely from behind and I had lost my rudder and did not have anything to support my feet, so it was quite unsteady. However, we proceeded even though it was a bit tough. Picture taken by @benjaminsteng Suddenly a wave came up from behind and suprised me, a second later I was upside down hanging, stuck in the spraydeck. Everything went so fast so I didn't have the time to fill my lungs with air. I never had the chance to learn how to do an eskimo roll so I dropped my paddle and started to try to loose the spraydeck that I was stuck in. That did not work so well, I couldn't see anything because it was dark and I could not find the rope that was attached to the spraydeck. Well, I did not have time to stay under just to find some rope to pull so that I could get free, insteed I used my arms and body and tryed to swing/ drag myself up. It almost worked, half way up I managed to bend and push myself out of the kayak. I came up to the surface gasping for air and clung myself onto the kayak. It was freezing cold, and the nearest island was about seventy meters away. Benjamin came paddling trough the waves to help me, while Jonatan went to see were we could take ashore. Benjamin had a rope that he tied to my kayak so he could drag me, because I could not get up on the kayak myself, and it was also filled with water. So there I was floating after my kayak while Benjamin paddled like never before.. Closer to land the waves got bigger and it started to be difficult for my friend to not roll over like me, so we had to loose the rope. Unfortunately the knot was to tight so he couldn't loosen it. Luckily I had my spring assisted knife in my pocket, I swam there and cut the rope. It felt like it was from a movie or something. Meanwhile Jonatan had found a protected spot betwen som rocks were we could take ashore. The island that we were on wasn't the one we had planned to go to, but because of the circumstances we did not care about that. Now the the main thing to do was to get a fire going and change the clothes to something dry. When the heat from the fire drove away the coldness my mood came back, it actually was quite nice. A crackling fire and the smell from some meat that was getting ready in the ember, so peaceful, it was perfect. To be out in the wild with friends, talking about life and stuff, hearing the sounds of the night, the waves and the fire, thats something we should do more often. In the morning after a long night sleep in a two person tent with two other guys it felt good to go out and stretch my legs. We ate a steady breakfast with sausage and bread and a cup of coffee. After that we just enjoyed the nature and the freedom. We explored the island, that actually was very beautiful, had a lot of smooth cliffs and pine trees. Interesting how you can do just nothing for hours when you are out in the nature, sitting in front of a fire or something and not feel any restlessness and stress, that would not work at home were there are stuff to do all the time.. The day went on and it was time to take our kayaks and paddle back, this time an other route. The way back went much smoother, and soon we were back on mainland. It had been a wonderful trip, even thou it didn't go as planned. Much thanks to my friends Benjamin and Jonatan for the company and the help when needed! We'll do it again :)
/A When my phone broke this summer I decided to make a different choise, to not just buy any new phone. Instead I went online and ordered a Fairphone, a phone made by a small company in the Netherlands. And yesterday it finally came! Even though I had to wait while the phones were made it was definitely worth the wait. Because now I know that my phone isn't made with materials collected from comflict-areas. Coltan, that is an essential part of all phones, is often mined in areas controlled by rebels. The Fairphone Company decided to only use conflict-free minerals. They are also making sure that the workers in China who assemble the phones has fair wages and working situations. They also want to reuse as much as possible from old phones. The first Fairphones came out in December 2013 and this summer the second batch was made. If you're currently without a phone I can highly recommend the Fairphone. The second batch isn't sold out yet. The box the phone came in shows all the places relevant to making the phone. Such as where it was made and from where the parts are.
/E Over the last couple of years I've been thinking a lot about what I spend my time, energy and money on. For example I've never been one who buys a lot of clothes, and now I'm so happy about that because I haven't gotten used to it. Nowadays I try to buy mostly at flea markets. So I try to shop only when I really need something and when something has broken. By doing this I'm able to spend more on proper and ecological food.
My goal and dream is to be able to live as much as possible by what I've grown and what nature gives. Finding ways to not have to work to keep up a certain lifestyle. I'm not dreaming of a normal lifestyle, I want to life easier and more freely. This is just some of my Sunday morning thoughts. /E Yesterday we had a "clean-the-house" day because the house looked like a mess since I was sick last week (yes, I admit I'm the messy one most of the time). But luckily cleaning can always be made fun. This last year I've enjoyed cleaning so much, it's such a joy to be able to clean with fresh cleaning supplies. Because it feels so good to not have to use a lot of chemicals that you later inhale. And the benefits of using non chemical cleaning supplies is that your health and environment improves. I mostly use ENJO's products. ENJO is an Austrian company making cleaning supplies etc that you can use with just water. Most of their products are made out of micro fibers that absorb the dirt. If it's too dirty they have different helping aids also, such as their olive soap. I'm not going to tell you the entire story of all their products because that would be too much for anyone to read. The products can't be found in stores, they sell it by showing how it works. Andreas and I bought our first ENJO products when a friend of our started selling and had a demonstration at our home. Then I was hooked. Their cloths are so easy and fast to use. And this is said by me, who didn't like cleaning at all. If you want to read more you can check this out. This is only a part of all the cloths by ENJO we have.
I do use other kinds of cleaning solutions also, but I avoid chemicals. There are just so many ways of cleaning where you don't have to use them. /E Yesterday I went to my family home to visit my parents and my siblings. Or actually I came on friday night already, because me my brother and my father had decided to go down to the lake for a early hunt the next day. On saturday morning we got up early, ate a steady breakfast and rinsed it down with a strong cup of coffee. When we were finished we jumped in the car, and drove down to the lake. We actually could have walked because it's just about 500 meters to the lake, but we were a bit late so therefore we took the car. My dad didn't have a gun, so I gave him the camera to shoot with, and I have to say that he got to "shoot" more than me and my brother did. Because I think we were a bit late, so all the ducks had went out furter to the sea for the day to chill, or whatever they do out there. Well our mood was high even though we did not see much of the ducks that we were after. It was nice to just be out with my father and brother, unfortunately it is not often we get out together like that just the three of us. So I really enjoyed it. BANG BANG, the shots came from the other side of some high reeds. It was my brother that shot after a flock of teals that flew over him, unfortunatley for him he missed but luckily for me he scared them towards me. I saw one duck that got seperated from the flock and came closer to my direction. These ducks (teals) are quite small, but really fast, so they can be hard to hit. I aimed quickly and took the first shot, I missed, the second shot came close after . The teal stopped flying and fell to the ground stone-dead. We had gotten our first duck that morning, felt nice. The sun had appeared and the cold and cloudy wether disappered, so the sweat was pouring because all the warm clothes and a lot of walking on swampy ground. It was time to go home, change some clothes, eat and rest. In the middle of the day my brother and I went out walking the grounds nearby the family home. We did not expect to see anything that we could hunt, but you never know. Maybe a pigeon would fly over or we would bump into a fox or something. The lands around the house are mostly woods and fields so you don't need to go far to get to the nature. So we just walked and talked. It was a perfect autumn day, the sun was shining and the leaves were colorful. Later on we went to check on Daniels game camera that is photographing all kinds of animals that are walking nearby. The day went on, and I spent some time with the rest of the family. My mum was making apple jam like that was the only thing we are going to eat the rest of the year, she even gave me 6 liters to take home with me, thanks mum! The evening came and it was time to go out again, we had planned to go furter out to sea to an island were we had heard there was a lot of geese and ducks. This time we had a childhood friend with us that Daniel use to hunt with a lot, a very good hunter, the legend says that he's been hunting since he could hold a gun. Anyway, when we came to the harbor we could barely see ten meters in front of us, the fog was very thick. So we had to change our plans and go back to the lake were we'd been in the morning. The lake was very calm, and there was no fog there, it was a perfect and beautiful evening. This time we went to a small reed island that according to the rumor should have a lot of ducks. When we came close to the island we saw a lot of sea birds, and a bunch of teals take off when we arrived. We cast out our decoys in the water and found ourselves a good spot to wait for the ducks to come. It was beautiful there, the sea was calm, no wind, the sunset in our backs and alomost a full moon in front of us. After a while we moved to an other place because we didn't see or hear any ducks, and it was late and would be dark soon. At the other place there were more ducks, but at this time it was almost dark, just the moon gave us some light. We could hear the whizzing sound from the teals flying over us, but it wasn't easy to see them, because of their speed and the darkness.
However, after a while, I got lucky and did get one duck down. And that was the end of a magnificient day, we went home with one more nice memory to keep in mind during cold winter evenings. /A |